Dwight Peck's personal website
L'Etivaz and Bulle
A
visit to see Pierre and L.-C. in the Pays d'en Haut
Pierre
and Laurie-Carroll, great friends from a quarter-century ago at the American College
of Switzerland, have got themselves a real fixer-upper in L'Etivaz, and have truly
fixed it up. And it's long past time for a visit. 24 September 2006.
You
may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a
good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught
up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
L'Etivaz
A
greyish 24 September 2006, so far, but perhaps it will brighten. We've turned
off the motorway at Bulle and we're speeding past the Castle of Gruyères
on our way into the Pays d'en Haut region (which probably means something like
"the Highlands" -- it covers all the Swiss region around Montbovon,
Château d'Oex, Saanen, Gstaad, and the Col des Mosses) to find out how Pierre
and L.-C. are doing after all these years.
And
it looks like they're doing just fine. That's the fixer-upper on the right. L'Etivaz
is hidden at the foot of a long hill down from the Col des Mosses, on the way
out an exceptionally vicious gorge to the village of Château d'Oex. It's
barely minutes from Leysin, and once upon a time, in our Leysin years, we hiked,
skied, and ran all through these hills roundabout.
There is a superb book on the history and culture of the Château d'Oex region, David Birmingham’s Switzerland: a village history (Ohio Univ. Pr., 1999).
The
fixer-upper well on its way to being fixed up. Pierre and Laurie-Carroll (and
all the daughters) have become skilled at all the woodworking, kitchen-tiling,
furniture-making, and general fixing-up.
After
a fondue the size of the state of Delaware, it's time to turn in.
The
view northward, the next morning, out towards Château d'Oex. The shadow
of the house is about 600 metres long.
The
cliffs above the house. That's looking up in the direction of the Rochers du Midi
and the Col de Base, much of it a nature reserve on the far side, where we
used to go camping to hear the chamois and ibex pattering around on the rocks
all night like rain on tin rooftops.
Pierre
with an early-morning beer stein full of coffee, as we get ready to head off for
home and let him get on with his furniture-making. Pierre and L.-C. are soon off,
too -- to northern Pakistan (him) and Mali (her) -- but there's some hope we'll see
them again at Christmas.
An
incredible house. Individual rooms for ALL the daughters, guest rooms, and the
barn thing at the top of it is presently a furniture-making workshop.
Pierre
and L.-C.'s fixer-upper in L'Etivaz.
Bulle
As
long as we're over this way with free time on our hands, let's stop in
for a look at Bulle on the way home.
Bulle,
as long as I've lived in the region, has been a big traffic jam with some charm
if you can take your eyes off the oncoming cars long enough to glance out to the
side. The major motorway from Vevey to Fribourg and Bern and points north passes
nearby, and everybody turning in towards Gruyères, Zweisimmen, Interlaken,
Lucerne, Austria, and the Danube Delta has had to file ill-naturedly bumper-to-bumper
through the suburbs of Bulle. Oblivious even to the charms of La Tour-de-Trême,
the lovely bumper-to-bumper suburb.
But massive construction works out by the motorway seem to indicate, in September
2006, that the Swiss are on top of this one, and a solution is probably in sight.
Here's downtown Bulle.
It's a fête day and some of the roads are blocked off.
In
front of the castle, looking towards the museum
The château and administration offices
The
second street, in front of the castle; the high street is just over to the left.
Again,
out the front of the castle, with a carnival or circus set up in the street.
The view from inside the castle courtyard
Time
to depart from Bulle now and go back to the Jura. In case we miss anything going
on over there.
Feedback
and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, .
All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 8 December 2006, revised 2 September 2014.
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